Bus Gamer Volume 2
by t5UR-t51d
Summary: I can't wait for Kazuya Minekura to give birth to the real Bus Gamer volume 2, so I slept with a muse and came up with my own version of BG II. Inside: the continuation of Volume 2 and Toki's past.
1. Chapter 1

Public service (1) - 12

"Congratulations on the win, everyone of team AAA," Yanagida extended one hand to receive the disc they had just stripped of the team ICE.

"Ah, thank you very much," Saitou said, rummaging in his bag to retrieve the disc they'd just won. He was about to give it freely when Nakajou took hold of his hand.

"Nakajou-san?" Saitou looked at him inquiringly, then turned at Mishiba, who eyed the judge distrustfully. He'd been the first to suspect Yanagida but remained silent as usual, seeing Nakajou had things under control anyway.

"Just a second," the AAA brains grinned. "How do we know you're the real judge and not just some guy from the rival company... Yanagida-san?"

"Because if you don't follow my instruction, your team will be disqualified," the elderly man replied with calmness, but such that reminded them of a quiet volcano, waiting for a cause to explode.

_That's right!_ Saitou thought. _Until now we've always given the discs we won to the Midou-Seimei. But I thought, since the rules for today have been changed, perhaps this is just one of the new rules._

"We haven't been told about this new regulation," Mishiba spoke. "If you have something to say to us, as the judge, you know how to find us. Good evening." With that, he turned and left.

Saitou followed, somewhat a bit forced by Nakajou's pressure on his arm.

"_What if he's the real judge! What if there's been a mistake!"_ Yanagida still managed to catch bits of Saitou's frantic hiss as Nakajou pushed him down the escalator.

- - -

Nakajou was in the middle of explaining to Saitou that it was very unacceptable to change the rules without telling the gamers about it when Mishiba spotted three or four policemen running after them, shouting, "Hey you! The three of you! Stop!"

"What now?" Saitou turned, eyes wide in amazement. "They're after us? Again?"

"The hell, Saitou, run!" Nakajou said, half pushing the boy down the escalator. Mishiba already jumped over the handrail and landed smoothly on the fifth floor.

"Toki-san, don't leave us!" Saitou shrieked loudly.

_If the police call for backup, we won't be able to get out of here anyway._ Mishiba pressed his face hard into the glass window to see whether there were police cars down there. There was one parked, and two coming in with howling sirens.

Saitou and Nakajou ran past him, the first never giving up calling on Toki-san. Mishiba took one look at the policemen close at his heels and then dashed after the other two, almost skidding over the floor's slick surface.

"Two back-up cars coming in!" he informed the other gamers.

"As if we don't have enough behind us now..."

But there were now only two policemen close at their heels, the rest lagging behind. So the officers shouted to other visitors for help, "Stop them!"

A burly man, obviously wishing to impress his girlfriend, stood in their way at the end of the escalator with wide stretched arms and feet. He looked nervous, and even so nervous that it seemed he wouldn't have been able to move if he changed his mind anyway.

"Out of my way!" Saitou yelled and then at the last moment decided to slide through the opening made between the man's feet. He reached the fourth floor safely and stopped to look back. Mishiba, again, jumped over the handrail, while Nakajou made his way through the wannabe hero, giving him bruises on his body and a nosebleed. The man fell down on the floor, and bought the fugitives some precious time. The policemen rushing afterwards did not appreciate someone that big lying on the floor, whining and groaning in pain.

Now it was Saitou and Mishiba on the front line, Nakajou just behind them. "Toki-san, what are we going to do!"

"Chances are, with back-ups we won't make it home," Nakajou said.

Saitou's face went pale.

"We split up," Mishiba decided. "Saitou, you have the discs. Hide yourself. Nakajou-san and I will keep them busy."

"If you get caught..." Nakajou said, and then thought it over again. "No, don't get caught."

They reached the third floor and did not head for the escalator, but instead for the normal shopping surface. Nakajou gave Saitou a strong shove and made him land somewhere between the racks. The youngest gamer ran, almost crawling, as he kept low on his way towards some fitting rooms.

In the room furthest from the entrance, he sat on a chair, careful to put his feet up so it seemed no one was there. He panted, breathless, but the thing worrying him most was Mishiba and Nakajou. _Whether they will make it? Will I make it?_ He decided not to take any risk and was ready to wait until the department store was all clear, even if he had to spend the night there.

Mishiba and Nakajou found another escalator and ran down it to the second floor. There they split up, Nakajou taking the stairs and Mishiba the escalator, careful to move quickly but not to run, in order to avoid any attention.

Nakajou sneaked out of the emergency exit just before some cops thought of barricading it. Through the front door Mishiba had to undergo some examination, but then, so did every young man. Presumably since he had no discs and thankfully had got rid of his conspicuous hat, he was free to leave the building.

- - -

Saitou had been sitting inside the fitting room for almost half an hour now. He was still tense and something tightened in his chest every time he heard footsteps coming nearer. His hands kept getting wet even though he'd rubbed them on his shirt. Not that it was dry either.

_Now I've come to think of it, waiting until tomorrow is pretty much a pain in the ass. Stupid new rules! Why did they have to make it so obscure? _

A voice so close to him almost made him fall down the chair. Obviously someone had walked inside noiselessly and that someone was now talking to another person. "You don't have time anymore? Too bad."

Saitou grasped the edge of the chair nervously. He tried to listen, but it was hard, because his own heart beats were louder than anything else.

"Well, I'll just try this one blouse." A woman looked inside the fitting room Saitou was in, quickly apologized and went to the room next door. Saitou could feel his heart going down to his toe.

_At the rate this is happening, either I'm going to be found first and die later, or, out of heart failure die first and be found later._

"Why is it me that has to be the bearer of the disc!"


	2. Chapter 2

Public service (2) - 13

A few minutes later Mishiba called Nakajou on his mobile, telling him of the search. "They will come to the conclusion that we are still inside the building while they made it easy for us to flee... I don't think Saitou will be able to escape now," he said, walking on the busy roadside.

"They probably think we wouldn't dare to risk meeting them," Nakajou said, from somewhere under dark, thick trees, throwing himself on a street bench and lighting a cigarette. "But what do the police have to do with this?"

Mishiba thought about it carefully. "It's the police, right... They have to think of the welfare of the public citizens. We'll have to bet on it."

- - -

That night the central police station received an anonymous call threatening to blow up one of the biggest train stations in Tokyo. "We're not doing this to get anything from this immoral country, but to show that the judgment of xxxxx is impending and his wrath quick."

All officers were called to search all the biggest stations in Tokyo, including those who were at home, or doing some 'minor' activities such as 'searching for some young man carrying something that didn't belong to him in a department store'.

From a telephone booth Nakajyo put down the receiver with a grin. He set out to put an empty suitcase in the nearest station to him and quickly disappeared under the cover of the night. In a café near the department store Mishiba watched the cops running out of the building, jumping into their cars and speeding away with neck-break speed.

He dialed Saitou's number on his mobile.

"Saitou, all is clear. You can go home now."

"Really? Toki-san, I feel I could hug you. Toki-san? Hello? Hello?"

Mishiba had quickly hung up, but he waited in the café to see Saitou safely out of the building. The boy was half dancing as he trod the almost empty street. Not long thereafter Mishiba took a different path and went home as well.

- - -

"_Saitou, all is clear. You can go home now."_

Saitou was not the only person receiving Mishiba's call, but this unexpected receiver only grinned and said, "Let them think they've won for a while... team AAA."

- - -

The next time they met up in Nakajou's place to avoid being spotted by the policewoman. Mishiba felt rather sorry that he couldn't eat Manrouken's spicy kim chi ramen, but for a while they had to keep themselves hidden.

"I'm speechless! I'm completely speechless!" Saitou said, his voice floated in even before he entered the apartment in person.

"Please don't contradict yourself that vehemently, Saitou," Nakajou grinned. "I don't mind giving you all the chance in the world to prove yourself speechless."

"What I mean, I was speechless that day to have that man – what's his name yadda yadda..."

"Yanagida."

"Yeah, Yanagida! Is he really not the judge? Why did the cops go after us as if we broke the law or something! And I'm still speechless, meaning I still find it so not acceptable right now," Saitou said, glaring around as if the person to blame was there with them.

"Just because he demands the disc doesn't necessarily mean he's the judge," Mishiba said.

"He can also as well be the judge, can't he?" Saitou asked. "I mean, if you two weren't there, I would have given him the disc right away."

"Yeah," Mishiba said.

"That's obvious, Saitou."

The absolute conformation made Saitou feel chided. "What else should I have done!" he erupted.

Nakajou grinned. "We already know you'd do that. Still, I want to know what the Bus Game has to do with the police, whoever that guy was. Was it coincidence that the policemen went after us?"

"... after we turned Yanagida down. Before that we were free to go, it appeared," Mishiba said thoughtfully.

"This is more complicated than I thought if even the police are involved in this game," Nakajou commented. He meant it seriously but spoke as always in his carefree manner of speech.

"Don't we have any right as a gamer to know what's going on?" Saitou demanded. "The whole thing is not clear, from the start to the end."

"If they disqualify us we'll know he's the right judge," Nakajou said, taking it easy. "Anyway, if we get disqualified at least we don't have to pay the cancellation fee. But we have our own way of playing the game, don't we? I don't know when's the last time I made such fun of the police." He laughed.

"The fake bomb threat made it into the news," Mishiba said disinterestedly as the television revealed the aftermath of their telephone yesterday night.

"What fake bomb threat?" Saitou asked and turned his attention to the TV announcer. "Did you make a fake bomb threat just to get me out of the building?" He was deeply touched and his eyes became all glazed again.

"Not you. The discs, Saitou," Nakajou tapped the boy's head. "Don't take it personally, okay? There was a search in the front door, but Mishiba made it through. So they must have thought all of us were still inside, or at least the discs were. We thought you wouldn't be able to escape if they search the whole building, so we made a call and said there's a bomb in one of the train stations. And zap! They're gone."

"You guys are awesome! I would have never thought of that!" Saitou exclaimed like a rabid fan girl. "It really is an honor to be in the same team with both of you, Toki-san and Nakajou-san!"

"Wait, listen to this..." Mishiba said.

The TV announcer continued, "The police presumed it was an attempt to empty the department store XXX, which jewelry store was robbed at about the same time the phone call was received. The suspect was a young man wearing a mask and until all officers were directed to the train stations a search had been conducted, although without any result."

"There... there was a robbery?" Saitou stammered.

Only awkward silence met his question. Mishiba was suddenly very interested in the roof over his head.

"Perhaps it's just an attempt to hush-hush it all," Nakajou said. He did not look as if he were keen to bet his life on it, though.

"We've helped a robber escape?" Saitou's voice hit the register Mariah Carey would have been proud of. "And I hid in the fitting room for nothing! Nothing, null, zero, cypher!"

It was easier said than done, but Mishiba and Nakajou managed to ignore Saitou's uninterrupted flow of heartfelt words.

To top it all, though, the next MD came with a notification that said, "By the last game we had the valuable appearance of Judge Yanagida. However, in order to avoid more misunderstanding in the future, he feels content to remain behind the curtain, unless the occasion demands for it."

_So he was the real judge._

"See? See? I told you! It was all a stupid fault... Why are you looking that threateningly at me? Mmmmpphhh! Mmmphh! Doki-fan! Ngakayou-fan! Mmmmpphhh!"


	3. Chapter 3

Happy birthday (1) - 14

Two minutes before midnight. Mishiba was brushing his teeth while remembering that that day was February the 13th and thinking about an event that happened exactly 5 years ago.

_Even though Shigi was almost as old as I was, we were treated differently. Perhaps it's because he was more often ill, or because I was the more stubborn one. Or perhaps there was no good reason at all. _

_I was taught to be strong and never to run away from troubles. Shigi was taught something else, namely to be obedient and to listen to others. It hadn't been easy for any of us, but at least easier than if it were to go the other way around. _

_We had always celebrated our birthdays together. That time we sat around a table which was full of special dishes mother had cooked and we may for the first time drink sake which father had provided. Not that Shigi and I hadn't done it long before that, secretly. _

_Shigi was laughing as father put down the sake bottle on the table. His laughter had a certain ringing in it, and it had always set the others laughing as well. But he suddenly stopped, when a stranger appeared. _The_ stranger._

The telephone rang unexpectedly. Mishiba started, looked at his own reflection in the mirror for a while until the phone rang for the second time. He picked it up.

"... Hello."

His eyes widened in shock as he recognized the sound on the other end of the line.

- - -

Saitou, wearing a birthday hat, stared at the receiver in his hand and complained to himself, "Why is it busy? Nakajou-san wouldn't be thinking about Toki-san's birthday, would he? And if he does, why does it take so long?" His face blushed a bit as he thought of another possibility. "Um... Does Toki-san have a girlfriend?"

- - -

As Mishiba hurriedly left his apartment, he didn't care to turn the phone off first.

_The stranger, Akito, was very nice to all of us. He was a very rich man and always brought something for us, and especially for Shigi. He was very fond of Shigi, although to me he was just polite. It didn't bother me, until later I found out that he tried to break us apart. This attempt had been a horror for Shigi, who didn't have any suspicion whatsoever towards the man with the sweet words and incentives. Logically, since that Shigi did not want to have anything to do with him. Akito stopped coming around and we thought it was over. _

_One day he came to see my parents. He offered them a lot of money as an exchange for Shigi, whom he wanted to adopt as his son. He promised to send him to an expensive school and give him anything money can buy. He also said Shigi was free to visit us anytime he liked. My parents were attracted to this proposal, but Shigi said he'd kill himself before he had to live with Akito. This made my parents angry and perplexed. They found the reason of Shigi's refusal childish and asked me to talk him into agreeing. I went to talk to Akito instead. I wanted to know what he wanted from Shigi. _

_He said it was a shame that such a charming child should live under circumstances below his level. He also said that we underestimated the power of money and worshipped old-fashioned values like family ties and affinity. "But your coming here made it clear that he's standing too deep in your influence to know what's good for him. So I will take him by force and just see what your 'love' can do against that."_

_I did not tell anyone of that, but I kept my guard. I feared for Shigi. _

_Since that time, the man never appeared at our dojo. But I could feel his hands pulling the strings of other puppets connected to his show of power. Another dojo was grounded near to ours. The students started bullying our students and their families. One by one they cut all connections to us._

_My father started drinking and my mother had to borrow more and more money. I got used to teaching at the dojo as my father's replacement and keeping an eye on my few scholars, who became more precious to us than ever before._

_It turned out that one of the scholars was paid to earn our trust. He tried to kill me during training in the dojo, failed to do so though. The temptation to get rid of him for good was overwhelming, simply because it was so easy to do so, but I only sent him away. I did not know I'd condemned him to his death, and Shigi as well. _

_At the next day he was found dead, and there were witnesses overall that swore it was me who killed him. My parents - whether they believed the lie or not was not clear – were terrified by the seemingly certain doom and killed themselves. Shigi and I were left alone. _

_- - -_

Mishiba ran into the empty dojo, jumping two or three steps at once. He ran through the dusty hall where once his father taught thirty, forty scholars; where his father taught Shigi and him. His footsteps were echoed by the half falling-apart, yellow walls. The darkness was only fought by the pale moon light, and once or twice he nearly fell.

"_Do you hear that, Toki? It's the burial of your brother... Shigi's burial."_

Once he reached the courtyard, Mishiba came to an abrupt halt. There their parents had been buried. No gravestone stood for them. But next to it there lied a freshly made mound. A scream escaped Mishiba's mouth.

"Shigi!"

- - -

It was half past three in the morning. The telephone rang shrilly across Nakajou's quiet room.

"Damn..." the student mumbled, as he groped wildly for the phone in the darkness. "What time is it... It'd better be a girl. Hello?"

"Nakajou-san, have you succeeded calling Toki-san? I want to say happy birthday to him, but his phone's busy from midnight until now!" Saitou's voice was so loud Nakajou had to put the receiver a few inches away from his ears.

"Saitou, do you know what time it is?"

"3:30! Just imagine it! I've been trying to call him for three and a half hours!"

Nakajou sighed and silently declared himself the loser. "Have you tried his mobile?"

"That's why I think there's something wrong. He doesn't pick the phone up!"

"Maybe he's asleep?"

Saitou was only a neutron away from exploding. "He can't possibly be asleep with the phone being busy and his mobile ringing three and a half hours long! Why don't _you_ try calling him for the whole three and a half hours then!"

"I don't want to wish him a happy birthday," Nakajou replied unaffectedly.

The next second the boy's voice was almost breaking with tears. "Do you think something's happened to him? I'm dead worried!"

"Oi, Saitou, before anything could happen to Mishiba, you would've been dead first. And if you're dead, well, the worrying's up to us. So don't worry. Now let me sleep, okay?"

- - -

Mishiba did not remember sitting down, yet he was on the ground, staring at the pile of earth in front of him. The night wind rattled the frail trees with a sound that made Mishiba's blood freeze. He remembered how he was always so cold, not meaning to, but just being that way; how Shigi always took the initiative to come closer to him, to touch him, to give him warmth. Now this voiceless pile of earth was the only token left of him.

Mishiba extended both of his hands and laid them slowly on the newly dug soil. "Shigi..." he pressed his face to the only remainder of his younger twin brother.


	4. Chapter 4

Happy birthday (2) – 15

_The police came. And with them the family of my ex-scholar, who died. The mother was trembling and crying as she asked me, "Why? Why?"_

_I did not answer. I'd gotten tired of repeating the redundant sentence, "I did not kill him." Humans are not capable of learning something new than what they've already held on to. _

"_He was one of the few, of the very few, that remained true to your dojo! True to you... How could you? How could you!"_

_Shigi persisted at my side, silent. I was relieved when the police brought us away from that accusing and pointing crowd; I could hardly take my brother's horrified expression at this unfairness any longer. I was afraid he would fall apart._

_It got worse in the police station. The officers were not interested in the truth, but only in gouging a confession from me. It was not so bad; after all if I'd died they knew they'd get into trouble, so now and then they remembered to hold back. I stood to the truth, naively thinking my stubbornness would convince them sooner or later. Obviously they thought it was just because I could endure the pain. _

_According to the rules, I wasn't allowed to see Shigi. It was fine for me. I did not want him to see me in that condition; he'd overreact. But I learned fast enough to realize there is an unbridgeable gap between the rules that are written and those that are played. _

_Shigi came. He was shocked to see my state. He told me that while I was interrogated, a man showed him the dojo's debts. "I met Akito. He said he could settle it all, and, Toki, he said he could free you!"_

"_No," I immediately disagreed. "I did not kill Kazuhiko."_

"_I know, but they might kill you," his voice quivered._

_I looked at him and I knew he was going to give himself up for me. "No, Shigi, please don't do that." _

_An officer came to take him away, announcing, "The time is up."_

_It was urgent for me to make it clear to Shigi that he needn't save me. _

"_Come on, lad," the officer led him away._

"_Shigi, don't do it!" _

"_The time is up," the officer repeated. Unthinkingly I pushed him away, hurting him more than I intended. A number of officers instantly entered the room and charged at me. In the middle of all the commotion someone ushered Shigi out. My brother said to me, "Please buy me, Toki!"_

_I was released, but all these free years of mine were his imprisonment._

_- - - _

Mishiba came to himself when a drop of cold water fell on him, followed by millions of others.

It was raining.

He stared at the mound of soil in front of him, then suddenly an urge to see Shigi took hold of him. Like a possessed person he dug the barrow open with his bare hands furiously. All these years he'd kept all his anger and fear buried deep inside himself. Now tearing this pile of earth was an act of bringing it all out in the open. His rage gave him a new strength he'd never experienced before. Even under the rain he felt heat coming out from him.

"_Toki, I don't want to see Akira-san anymore. He's a liar. He told me that I'm too dependent on you while you find yourself self-sufficient, so you will disappoint me someday. That's not true, is it?"_

"_Of course not."_

_A liar. _

_Would a liar be telling me the truth?_

The morning sunshine on the earth revealed parts of a cocooned body. Mishiba jumped inside the grave and reached to disclose it with a trembling, bleeding hand.

- - -

Somewhere in a mansion, a man watched a monitor displaying Mishiba's accomplishment. "Well done, Toki..." he said and turned to another figure in the dark. "It seems your brother's not as dense as he used to be, Shigi. That makes a nice birthday present, doesn't it? Happy birthday..."

- - -

Mishiba stared at the dummy inside the plastic bag. Its face had been drawn in an attempt to resemble Shigi; it was amateur work, but he could recognize the objective behind it. He put the mocking doll away, nauseated.

His knees felt weak. As he slowly sunk on the grave's floor, he felt his back, arms and feet ache dreadfully. For a while he put his face inside his hands, half-relieved that he hadn't found Shigi dead. On the other hand the picture of what this sick person was able to do to Shigi tortured him. There was no other way; he had to win the Bus Game.

He climbed out of the grave and headed home.

- - -

At home a bathed Mishiba picked up his portable phone and turned it off. He had also left his mobile home and now stared at the long list of miscalls from Saitou and one miscall from Nakajou.

He dialed Saitou's number but no one picked it up, so he dialed Nakajou's number instead.

"Nakajou-san? You called me earlier today."

"Yeah. Saitou's been calling you since midnight and since you didn't answer, he called _me_ at _half past three _in the morning."

"What does he want to talk to me about?"

"Nothing important. He wants to wish you a happy birthday."

_A happy birthday... huh. _"...Yeah, it's nothing important."

One of them grinned, with a cigarette slipped between his lips. The other smiled slightly.

- - -

Later, just after midnight.

Saitou woke up, eyes blinking sleepily as he tried to discern the time of the day. "Aaaargh!" he yelled. "I overslept Toki-san's birthday!"


End file.
